MILTON — After a few years of falling short, the Eagles are once again on top of the Div. 1 mountain. In a dramatic match with multiple lead changes, No. 2 BC High (6-0-1) outlasted No. 4 Xaverian (3-3-1), 40-38 to win the Div. 1 boys rugby state championship.
With the victory, BC High rugby earns its first state title since 2021.
Junior captain Mikey Smith led the Eagles’ offense with two tries, while Gavin McNicholl went 5-6 on conversion kicks, which proved to be pivotal in the close contest.
“We’ve been down several times this year and battled back. We just know that we’re the best team in the state and that if we play our rugby, nobody can beat us,” said Smith.
“Gavin is a generational player,” added BC High coach Paul Carty. “He can do it all. For his ability to convert those kicks, obviously it was the difference here.”
Greg Matthews put the Eagles up first with a try at the start of the match before Xaverian scored three unanswered tries to go up 19-7. Colton Blind got one back for the Eagles, cutting the Xaverian lead to 19-12 at the half.
In the second half, Smith made his mark on the scoresheet, tallying the first of his two tries after a long Ryan Esfahanian run down the sideline to set up the score. Michael Thekaekara answered shortly to put Xaverian back up 24-19.
Like Xaverian in the first half, BC High’s offense rallied off three scores in a row from Owen Hurley, Smith, and Conrad Babka, to take a 40-24 lead late in the match. Xaverian refused to falter, however, scoring back-to-back tries to cut the Eagles’ lead to just two. Yet the Eagles defense held stout, smothering a final Xaverian drive to clinch the match and the championship.
“The beauty and the pain of rugby is that it just keeps going and going until it’s over,” said Carty on the back and forth contest. “We knew we had it, we just had to close out defensively.”
